Christmas Joy

Caleb had a good Christmas. When we first asked him earlier in December what he wanted Santa to bring him, he said, "just whatever he wants to bring me." Such a breath of fresh air to get a glimpse that Caleb will (hopefully) have a spirit that is not greedy. He finally said he wanted a video game... and that's what he stuck with the entire month. We started Advent this year... I had been thinking about it, but I wasn't sure where to start or exactly what direction I wanted to go with it. At our small group Christmas party the first Sat. of the month, our sweet leaders talked about how much Advent had meant to their family. Nancy Peevy just whipped out this great handout full of ideas- exactly what I needed! I bought my purple, pink, and white candles and we just went for it. After a little bit of a rough start (Caleb has a bit of an obsession with blowing out candles, so he immediately blew it out the 1st night right after I told him not to; Me: Who is Mary? C: She marries people), we got into the rhythm of it. He was very excited when it was time for the Christ candle on Christmas day. His favorite gifts included his Wii that Santa repaired for him, his new Dinosaur game for his leap pad, and an awesome t-rex. Here are a few pictures of our December...

A real-life reindeer at the square...

Singing in his program at preschool...

and enjoying the birthday party for Jesus afterward.

Singing in his preschool choir open house at church...they rocked "Go Tell it on the Mountain"!

One more time travel adventure...

 And it continues...

Caleb had his big birthday number 5... he had his first "friend" party at Jump Zone. He had lots of friends there, including Oliver, Karissa, Kearstin, NJ, Lily, Rylee, Madison, Kayden, Ty... he had a great time!

Daddy and Caleb gettin ready for the sock hop at preschool!

Painting the pumpkin he picked out... notice how both father and son have their mouths open just a tiny bit when they are concentrating. This is the same look you see if they are engrossed in electronics of some sort...

It's a dinotastic Halloween! Rooooaaarrrrr!!!!

Hangin out on the tractor at Vanzant's...

and ridin the four wheeler at Aunt Carla's house over Thanksgiving.

And last, but certainly not least, just proof positive indeed that he is a male.

Lightning speed time travel...

I would say I'm super embarrassed at how long it's been since I've updated this... but one of my goals for this upcoming new year is to really focus on the important things and not pile guilt on myself for things that aren't at the top of my priority list. With that being said, I am going to try not to let this lapse for so long... then I won't be so overwhelmed at the time I need to spend to update!

Caleb finished up another spring of soccer season. Something clicked this time... in the fall, he basically ran around, pretending to shoot other kids when he wasn't pushing or running around in his own little world (while the ball literally rolled over his foot). This spring, he all the sudden got really into things... running hard (actually towards the ball), not pushing, and even scoring goals!

We went to see the Naturals play on Memorial Day weekend... we made it to the bitter end just to see the fireworks (my apologies to all you baseball fans out there).

Being silly wearing Memaw's sunhat in Branson this summer...

1st time to experience sparklers this July 4th (about all momma could stand for him to do... plus the whole burn-ban thing... hopefully now that it is Dec. we won't get arrested for this)

The summer of the sno-cone... Daddy was thrilled that Caleb decided he is a huge fan of sno-cones... now Dad has a buddy to go with. We made a tradition by going to the Springdale Aquatic Center then stopping at Shave the Planet.

Just checkin out the pigs at Gentry Safari... Caleb had no fear of any of the animals in the petting zoo (his momma's nerves left barely intact).

In Kansas City over Labor Day weekend... there was a neat little Dinosaur exhibit at the Crown Center. Of course, Caleb was all about that...

Dad's favorite thing at the aquarium in Kansas City...

Eating at Fritz's... Caleb thought it was super cool how a little train delivered our food!

Driving the Cheerios car at Worlds of Fun in KC.... 

Celebrating Father's Day...Dad and his mini-me!

Ahhhh... this is the life (in Branson)

1st ever lake-kayaking adventure... Caleb had never swam in a lake before, and he kept telling us he didn't want to go in the lake. We couldn't figure out why until he mentioned that there would be whales and sharks in there. Once we corrected that notion, he was good to go!

Caleb took swimming lessons for the 1st time at the S'dale Aquatic Center. He learned to swim under water and float. 

1st day of preschool...

Not too sure about the huge t-rex at T-Rex Cafe in KC...

Caleb wanted to play soccer again this fall. He had another great coach with an AWESOME name (Coach Caleb). He played hard and scored lots of goals- he had a great time.

Just hanging around with Snoopy at Worlds of Fun